Freddie Francis started his career as an apprentice to a still photographer and at age 17 began in motion pictures as a clapper boy. His first shot at cinematography came with the British Army Kinematographic unit during World War II, but after the war he returned to feature films as a camera operator, working with such seminal figures as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, John Huston and Zoltan Korda. Francis did the second unit photography on John Huston's "Moby Dick" (1956) and shortly thereafter graduated to director of photography on "Hell for Korea" (also 1956). He won applause for his work on Joseph Losey's "Time Without Pity" (1957) and for his gritty photography for "Room at the Top" (1958). His Oscar-winning work on "Sons and Lovers" (1960) was at the same time dark and rich, with delicious grey hues. Francis moved to the director's chair beginning with "Two and Two Make Six" and "Vengeance" (both 1962), but he soon became typecast as a director of horror films. He continued to demonstrate his touch with a vibrant palate of hues making for vivid images, even with the most banal of material. His work included such films as "The Skull" (1965), "The Deadly Bees" (1966), "They Came From...

Freddie Francis started his career as an apprentice to a still photographer and at age 17 began in motion pictures as a clapper boy. His first shot at cinematography came with the British Army Kinematographic unit during World War II, but after the war he returned to feature films as a camera operator, working with such seminal figures as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, John Huston and Zoltan Korda. Francis did the second unit photography on John Huston's "Moby Dick" (1956) and shortly thereafter graduated to director of photography on "Hell for Korea" (also 1956). He won applause for his work on Joseph Losey's "Time Without Pity" (1957) and for his gritty photography for "Room at the Top" (1958). His Oscar-winning work on "Sons and Lovers" (1960) was at the same time dark and rich, with delicious grey hues.

Francis moved to the director's chair beginning with "Two and Two Make Six" and "Vengeance" (both 1962), but he soon became typecast as a director of horror films. He continued to demonstrate his touch with a vibrant palate of hues making for vivid images, even with the most banal of material. His work included such films as "The Skull" (1965), "The Deadly Bees" (1966), "They Came From Beyond Space" (1967), "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" (1968), Joan Crawford's last film, "Trog" (1970), and the original "Tales From the Crypt" (1972), which included five stories of mayhem based on an old comic strip. Francis also directed numerous TV episodes, particularly of "The Saint" (syndicated, 1963), and "Star Maidens" (syndicated, 1977), but he all but abandoned directing in the late 70s, frustrated at not being able to secure a more substantive assignment. It was not until "Last Respects" (HBO, 1996), the story of greed and hatred between sisters, that Francis was given a project with some depth of character.

Francis returned triumphantly to work as a director of photography in 1980, capturing with subdued, deeply moving lighting the essence of "The Elephant Man" for director David Lynch. On "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), Francis' cinematography had a fraught romantic feel. By the end of the 80s, he was in full swing as a cinematographer once again, notably with Edward Zwick's Civil War drama "Glory" (1989), for which he earned his second Oscar. Cool, yet colorful, the lighting of the film captured the vigor of war with the romanticism of Robert Gould Shaw's vision of his mission. It was a film that presented a noble heroism, in which the light of the sun guides. Francis caged the darkness for Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of "Cape Fear," borrowing from the techniques he developed in horror films, including the frightening last sequence in which a boat is enveloped by pitch darkness from which villain Robert De Niro emerges. In 1992, Francis shot "School Ties," painting a contrast between the grimy industrial city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, from the which the Jewish teen quarterback emerges and the sunny, idyllic world of the all-WASP prep school which he enters with a sense of wonder. The film begins with a mood montage that sets Scranton as a gloomy location, its row houses looking almost like the prototype British inner city. Scranton is seen as dark and overcast throughout. The sun pierces the sky gradually as David (Brendan Fraser) sets out for his new school, and becomes almost heavenly when he reaches it. Yet, at the end, when he has survived the anti-Semitic attack of his peers, the school is no longer bathed in sun, but merely a cleaner reality.

Francis went on to serve as director of photography on Bob Hoskins' "Rainbow" (1996). In the 80s and 90s, Francis also shot a handful of prestige TV productions, notably "The Executioner's Song" (NBC, 1982), and "The Plot to Kill Hitler" (CBS, 1990), both for director Lawrence Schiller. He returned to the big screen capturing the majestic beauty of America's heartland in David Lynch's "The Straight Story" (1999).

Served in the British Army; was a member of the Army Kinematographic Unit

1947:

Began as camera operator with "The Macomber Affair"

:

First worked under John Huston on "Moulin Rouge" (1953) and "Beat the Devil" (1954)

1956:

Won attention for his second unit photography of "Moby Dick", directed by Huston

1956:

First film as director of photography "Hell in Korea"

1958:

First screen collaboration with Jack Clayton, "Room at the Top"

1960:

Won first Academy Award for his cinematography on "Sons and Lovers"

1962:

Directed first feature "Two and Two Make Six"

1963:

Helmed episodes of the syndicated series "The Saint"

1980:

Returned to working as a director of photography on David Lynch's "The Elephant Man"

1982:

Served as cinematographer on the NBC drama "The Executioner's Song"; film was released theatrically in Europe

1989:

Earned second Best Cinematography Oscar for "Glory"

1991:

Shot remake of "Cape Fear", directed by Martin Scorsese

1996:

Directed "Last Respects" episode of the HBO series "Tales From the Crypt"

1999:

Served as director of photography on "The Straight Story", directed by David Lynch

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Notes

"Although I love working, I won't work on a film unless I meet with the director and realize that he really wants me to do his movie. I have an arrangement with my agent that if anybody asks me to do a film, first of all, obviously we demand to see the script. Secondly, my agent asks if they are seeing anybody else in connection with this movie. If they say yes, he says, 'Well, Freddie doesn't want to do it.' I'm not saying every director has to have me on his movie, but any director who does has got to want me and nobody else." --Freddie Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996

"I'm not a camerman. I'm the director's collaborator. Another thing, a corny old thing I keep saying, but about which I'm very sincere, is that there are three kinds of photography in movies. There's good photography, bad photography, and there's the right photography. Sometimes, to do the right photography you have to do what is almost, to a dyed-in-the-wool cameraman, bad photography . . . Sometimes you have to tone down your approach to become a collaborator on the movie." --Freddie Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996

"I suppose I can say I slightly regret all the horror things I directed, but I didn't regret them at the time, because I enjoyed making them . . . To be quite honest, the standard of films I've photographed, both in terms of quality and money spent, are very different from the films I've directed. If I could direct some films with the same budgets as those I've photographed, I'd prefer directing. But I realize how lucky I was to have two hats to wear." --Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996